Remembering Marilyn Monroe: 10 facts about the Hollywood icon

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June 01, 2017

Born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles on June 1, 1926, Marilyn lived a colourful life before passing away due to an accidental drug overdose at the tender age of 36. She embraced her moniker after good friend and Fireball co-star Mickey Rooney told her she needed a stage name.

Her second husband (of three) baseball great Joe DiMaggio is considered by many to be the love of Marilyn’s life. After trying the knot in 1954, their marriage lasted only nine months. Later Marilyn opened up about the split, saying that, “Joe wanted me to be the beautiful ex-actress, just like he was the great former ballplayer. We were to ride into some sunset together. But I wasn’t ready for that kind of journey just yet.”

In 2011, fellow screen legend Debbie Reynolds auctioned off Marilyn’s iconic white dress from 1955’s The Seven Year Itch to an unidentified buyer for a staggering $5.6 million.

At the height of her fame in the 1950s, Marilyn received 5000 fan letters a week and had admirers in famed authors like T.S. Eliot and Truman Capote, not to mention close personal friends in the likes of Frank Sinatra and Shelley Winters.

Music’s “First Lady of Jazz,” Ella Fitzgerald, credits Marilyn with helping her break into L.A.’s club scene in the 1950s, saying “I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt… it was because of her that I played the Mocambo, a very popular nightclub in the ’50s. She called the owner and told him she wanted me booked, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night.”

Diamonds might have been her character Lorelei Lee’s best friend in 1953’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but the blond bombshell didn’t have much time for expensive jewels like her colleague Elizabeth Taylor. Most of Marilyn’s jewelry was costume except for a string of Mikimoto pearls given to her by Joe on their honeymoon in 1954.

A few weeks after her film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes hit theatres, Marilyn ventured to Alberta to film scenes for Otto Preminger’s western River of No Return alongside Robert Mitchum. Her future husband Joe DiMaggio joined the screen siren on set, and a British photographer captured dozens of candid shots of the couple that were later unearthed and released for the first time in the 2010 book Marilyn, August 1953.

Starring in more than 30 films, including gems like All About Eve, How to Marry a Millionaire and Bus Stop, it’s hard to believe Marilyn was never nominated for an Oscar. But she did score a Golden Globe for her performance in Some Like it Hot (1959).

In 1962, Marilyn performed a sultry rendition of "Happy Birthday" for then US President John F. Kennedy. Her makeup artist at the time, Marie Irvine, recently broke her silence about that iconic performance, saying that Marilyn was very nervous prior to taking the stage and rehearsed constantly in order to make a good impression on the Head of State.

During her teen years, Marilyn suffered from a speech impediment, explaining, “I don't know how it happened … Sometimes if I was very nervous or excited, I would stutter.” The breathy tone of her voice that she became famous for was actually a byproduct of sessions with a speech therapist.